1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to partial or full gloves on which are mounted a battery-operated light source that cooperates with a light transmitting medium to illuminate a relatively broad area with the light source. A single point contact switch or contact between two locations on the glove can be utilized for activating and deactivating the light source.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
It has long been known that individuals participating in outdoor activities in low light or dark conditions may be exposed to danger from vehicular traffic or the like. By way of example, construction road crews, police officers, firefighters, joggers, or even pedestrians can be exposed to injury when not seen. This, of course, is particularly true in low light conditions or at night, but can be true even in inclement weather conditions, such as snow storms and the like. Further, individuals participating in winter sports, such as skiing, snowboarding, sledding or the like may also be exposed to injury in inclement weather where vision is impaired.
While attempts have been made to provide means for making an individual more visible in such low light or dark conditions, they are less than satisfactory. For example, individuals participating in outdoor activities have placed reflective tapes on their clothing, worn bright-colored clothing, utilized reflective holograms, even surface-mounted beams of light and/or reflective or transmitting devices but as will be appreciated, unless a motorist's lights strike the reflective material precisely or the motorist can recognize or see a beam of light, the individuals remain at risk. Warning materials have even been incorporated into articles of clothing, such as reflective tape on gloves as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,942 issued to Anderson on May 4, 1999. Gloves have also been provided with illuminating substances having phosphorescence or florescent properties as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,154 issued to Coulter, et al. Gloves having illuminating beams are also known, even though they are more concerned with illuminating a work area than for safety purposes. An example of such a glove with a light source mounted thereon is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,105 issued to Koenen, et al.
Light sources which are broader in scope and possibly more visible than a single beam of light are also known in the art such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,076 issued to Cross on Mar. 9, 1999, even though these light sources have not been incorporated into gloves, but rather into belts or the like, and are relatively expensive to manufacture and not easily operated without utilizing ones hands in a manner that renders the hands unavailable for other uses such as operating a motorcycle, riding a bicycle, participating in manual labor requiring the hands, and the like. As will be appreciated, in the device disclosed in the aforenoted patent to Cross, a light source is embedded in a thermoplastic material which will spread the light over a relatively broad surface.
It is to provide a system for optimally illuminating individuals participating in outdoor activities under low light, no light or inclement weather conditions and to overcome the shortcomings in prior art systems that the present invention has been developed.